User Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Kuhnzie8637:

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4.12/5 rDev +13.2%

This one has been sitting in my beer fridge staring at me for the longest time. I gotta drink this one or else it will start crying.

Appearance (4.25) : Pours an aggressive tan-beige head. I'm measuring about four fingers. Actually I have a tape measure sitting right here. 3 1/4". Impressive. Leaves lacing as it slowly recedes. The body is a dark honey color with about 30% opacity. Nice clarity on this one. Due to the massive head, the generous lacing, and the clarity of the dark body, I'm giving this one a solid 4.25.

Taste (4.25) : Well, this is quite interesting. The berry notes and the malt-heavy toasted grain play well with each other and are very loud. Hop bitterness is cheering from the sidelines, still present but kept on a margin by the barley and berry. The sour lambic-type taste gives it an interesting spin and the hops help balance out the malts nicely. It's very forward, very strong in the taste department, and for this reason it is a sipper and not a chugger. I will say, it is pretty impressive. I like the flavor, it's a true craft.

Overall (4.12) : If someone pushed this glass in front of me and told me it was from a top craft brewer, and they charged $15/4 pack, I would believe them. I would probably also try to find the beer to purchase it. This is actually a fine, fine beer and to think that Sam Adams made this is pretty incredible. It's got a great craft feel to it, a bit lambic and a bit festive, not too malty, not too hoppy, and that extra berry sourness just makes things interesting. The bottle talks about spice but I'm not intercepting any spice. Just good, berry, malty, hoppy goodness.

Edit : I see that this is a Bock. It is absolutely nothing like a Bock. I would knock the rating down but it's too good to do that. Approach it like a Bock and you'll probably be sorely disappointed. Approach it like a winter beer and you'll be jumping rope.

This is another beer that starts Samuel Adams fans down the path of only drinking Boston Lager. Sure, it looks so good that you can almost taste your hopes for what it is. Plus, you've heard about how they add spices in this lager, and brew it up with a heavy malt, so that it's a true winter beer from the winter environs of Boston. It may be the first seasonal you drink from Samuel Adams, because of all the promised goodness. Then you drink it and it's like . . . wtf? Damn! I shoud've just had a Boston Lager.

This is another old-school, "big" beer from Samuel Adams, but by "big" they mean a big beery malt. Beery Malt? Really? It is extremely lightly hopped (22 ibu) compared to today's beers, or even the original Boston Lager. The spice that they talk about adding during brewing is barely detectable. After trying this one, nobody could blame you if you decided to drink only Boston Lager. However, they do make White Christmas, which is pretty good.

The look, as with many of the beers from Samuel Adams, shows their attention to quality ingredients. It's a deep copper color. The head foams up very abundantly and laces very abundantly. Looks good!

When you snuff in the aroma, however, you realize that something may be amiss. There's just not much to it. Forget about a powerful aroma of grapefruit, pine or any of the other hallmarks of a modern IPA - of course. Also forget about the ineffable scent of paradise that you get in a Boston Lager. It's basically just a meh smell of beery malt. There's a barely detectable hint of cinnamon spice in the mix, but it's about a 1 on a scale to 10. Uh, oh.

The taste confirms that damn! I should have just ordered a Boston Lager. It's malt. That's the flavor - beery malt. Now I'm not talking about a Lagunitas Sucks multi-layered, syrup-thick complex of flavor combining sweetness and spice. I'm talking about a powerfully beery malt. "Beeaahh" as a Beantown resident might say. Time has sort of passed by that so-so flavor. The spice is really not contributing much. It may smell great when they brew it, but it doesn't do much for me.

The feel is fine. It's not super-thick feeling, but far from watery. With the powerfully beery malt flavor, the consistency is pretty substantial. The carbonation seems medium.

Overall, time has passed by this approach to craft beer. Perhaps as a reaction to the watery beers of the giant brewers, Samuel Adams brewed a hugely beery-malt of a beery malt beery malt. Did I mention it tastes like beery malt? Pass.

I grabbed a twelver of this brew and it even came with a tulip lip can which is nice. Of course, I poured it into a worthy glass and admired what it has to offer. This one is 5.7% ABV.

Look-It pours a mildly clear walnut copper color with a nice whitish head. The lacing is persistent and fluffy.

Smell-It smells of dark fruits like plums and raisins as well as hearty rich sweet breads like pound cake, bread pudding, and cinnamon cakes. There is plenty of malts and abundant spices to be smelled and tasted.

Taste-It tastes like it smells, but with mild caramel flavors and some mild orange peel citrus.

Mouthfeel-It is medium bodied, smooth, rich, and creamy.

Overall-I love this beer, but it isn’t like earth shattering or anything. Definitely try it though.

It is that time of the year again. Had this one many times but never reviewed.

Fresh off the batch. Poured from a bottle into a standard pint glass.

A: Pours a deep amber. Little head on this one. What head there is is a foamy white. Medium carbonation.

S: Malts initially. Some caramel. Fairly mute, I would say.

T: As remembered, the orange peel is prominent. Some hops as well. Caramel later on. A little cinnamon somewhere in there.

M: Medium-bodied. Slight dryness.

O: My favorite winter beer, hands down. Takes some of the best traits from each of the various winter seasonals that I have tried over the years for an excellent product. Warm flavors without losing the hop bite. Will be picking up some more (and more and more).

Sam should consider keeping this on the shelves through February. Last year, this was gone by January in place of Cold Snap (which is not nearly as enjoyable).

The Sam Winter Lager is pretty close to my idea of a classic winter seasonal. It seems to be an agreeable dark variation on the classic Boston Lager theme, swapping out hoppy tones with welcoming spices. Better out of the bottle than on tap in my experience, it's nothing to write home about necessarily, but a solid brew to keep around for cold-weather sessions. It is a shame that this one isn't around a little later before it gets replaced by Cold Snap, the taste of which does not seem quite as appropriate for the depths of winter.

While watching a game at a local pub in Grand Rapids recently I ordered this one up since I like a good bock every once in a while, and this one was the most enticing beer on the menu at the moment. Plus, it was a good lighter abv option to go with watching the game.

This beer pours a reddish brown hue and is clear with light carbonation visible. The head is off white and creamy, dissipating very slowly to a rocky layer with a neck. 4.25/5 The aroma is very sweet and fruity with notes of plums, ages, red wine grapes, and dark cherries. It comes across a bit syrupy and almost like cough medicine. 3.5/5 The flavor has that same sweetness and fruitiness, but luckily does not come off as cough syrup. Notes of plums, red wine grapes, dark cherries, and dates kick things off before transitioning to wheat bread and then finally to floral hops that feature very little in the way of bitterness. The bitterness is light enough that it does not linger after swallowing. 3.75/5 This beer is quite wet but not coating and it is medium bodied. There is very little carbonation and no dryness or lingering dryness. It is smooth and syrupy, but also thirst quenching at the same time (generally not two terms that go together). 4/5 This is a very good beer, although it is quite unbalanced in favor of fruity sweetness. I did not expect such a wealth of sweetness and fruity notes out of a bock, but oh well. If everything lived up to expectations I would get bored very quickly. 3.75/5

A: Pours a dark red, mahogany color with an off white creamy head, clear, very little carbonation, has a beautiful color to it, looks very nice.

A: Malt, caramel, not getting any of the ginger, cinnamon or orange peel, smells pretty plain, was hoping for more.

T: Malt, caramel, hint of vanilla in there, some ginger in the aftertaste, but no cinnamon or orange peel, it's just no there, the ginger does become more noticeable as the bee warms.

M: Light bodied, dry finish, easy on the palate.

O: This is not all it's advertised to be, it sounds like a big beer, a lager with some spice in it for cold weather, but it lacks body, cinnamon and orange peel, it tastes like a regular bock with a hint of ginger that seems out of place in the flavor.

Dark amber pour with thin lasting cap of beige. Aromas are pleasantly malty bread, caramel, and very light winter spices. All of the smells are amplified in the taste - very full-bodied for such low abv. Tasty, malty, but never overly sweet, if finishes clean and neat. One of Sam's best recipes.

Perfectly fine "go to" beer if there is nothing more exciting on the menu. Part of a winter seasonal pack. Pours a jewel-tone dark amber, minimal lacing. Smells of malt, tastes of malt, spice, a tiny bit of citrus and sugar. Medium carbonation. I buy this in six-packs for family Christmas. Readily available and far superior to the 3.2 grocery store they usually buy.

not crisp and cold and refreshing like most lagers, and not even fully seasonally applicable due to its average abv and dumbed down flavor. sam makes some epic beers, but this ones just average. pours a light indian brown color into that funny sam adams glassware, good head. smells like a malt bomb, but tastes a bit cinnamon and clove spice, thick mouthfeel drags it down and sits in the gut. not a good session lager. of the winter brews the cream stout and the scotch murder this one. id say pass it by but its so damn common in the northeast...

Pours a beautiful copper color. The head is two fingers high and off-white in shade. This beer's head really leaves behind a ton of lacing on the glass, though its retention isn't amazing.

Almost immediately, cinnamon and ginger invade my nostrils. You know, as much as people say Hardywood GBS invokes gingerbread - this does that very same thing nearly as well. Also adding to the experience are touches of wheat and apricot (though I don't get much orange peel here). This offers a very intriguing aroma, spiced in all the right ways.

As it washes over the palate, I initially pick up flavors of ginger, molasses, and wheat. Orange peel rounds out the mid-taste, with a nice kick of cinnamon finishing things off. It's not a particularly deep beer, but it balances all its elements extremely well.

Creamy and soft textured, this just feels rich - not just for a 5.6% lager, but in general. The finish is dry, keeping it an easy drinker. Carbonation is gentle, and this seemingly aids this beer's substantial body.

I've always felt Sam Adams do lagers better than ales. The standard Boston Lager is still quite tasty, Double Agent is probably their best hoppy offering, and Noble Pils is tragically missed (or is it - hi Spring pack!) This reaffirms that belief. It's not comically cinnamon-heavy like so many Winter warmer-cum-pumpkin ale offerings, nor is it some dinky, watery weakling in terms of mouthfeel. This is a perfect "please the masses" kind of beer that works great for parties or guzzling by the pitcher.

I must say, this seasonal offering from Sam Adams sort of let me down. I like almost all of their beers but this one just wasn't doing it for me. I tried it plenty of times but found it to be lacking too much in overall flavor. The appearance is beautiful and it is a good beer body wise, but the flavor department is just lacking way too much for me.

Have drank this seasonal over the last few years on tap and in the bottle,went out last night and had this on tap.Pours a brownish amber with alight but somewhat sticky head,aroma is rich and malty.The flavor has a nice flavorful holiday spice to it its a nice rich tasting brew,this beer is served at alot of the big name bar and grilles wich is great compared to most of there other offerings.A beer with some nice spiced notes and is slightly warming.

Appearance  The body of this lager is brown and very clear. The head frothed up quickly and laced the glass as it went down.

Smell  The grain here came out nicely, which is a welcome surprise from an American brewery. The cinnamon, allspice, and sharp clove where terrific, and the toasty malts created a solid backbone.

Taste  The grain reserved itself for the finish, giving me a joyful mouthful of heavily spiced beer. There were some good maple notes along with toffee and a hint of cocoa. The light herbal bitterness brought up the rear.

Mouthfeel  Thin but a little better than light-bodied with little carbonation. The body was a bit light in the ass for the big flavors in this beer.

Drinkability  This is a solid entry into the Winter Warmer style.

Comments: I didnt care at all for the 2003 offering, but the 2004 sample that I had was so above and beyond the 03 that I completely rewrote the review.

Pours a nice copper-amber color, decent clarity with a beige colored head that left a surprisingly nice amount of lacing. Nice mix of aromas on the nose, albeit overall very faint. Spices, malts, bread, yeast, cinnamon, orange zest, maybe a bit of ginger, and a slight hint of floral hops. Smooth and creamy to the mouth, starting off with a hefty helping of carbonation. First come the yeasty-bready flavors following quickly by the spices. The beer gives a nice warming feel and sensation, it really hits the "winter lager" feel quite well. Hops and bitterness are low, but still present in small amounts to balance out the heavy malt that is relevant throughout.

A tasty winter style lager, Samuel Adams usually does not disappoint. Easy to drink, fairly cheap, and highly sessionable. Drink this one next to a fireplace.